Lost Faith Returned
by Lily Martin
Summary: New Chapter** Someone from Snape's past returns to take the DADA position. After so many years of only hearing from her, but never seeing, what will he do when he finally has her back? And as usual Dumbledore had a hand in it.
1. Chapter 1: Now

_Lost Faith Returned_

**By** Lily Martin

**Rated **R

**Category:** Romance/Adventure/probably something else, but I don't know.

**Spoilers:**  GOF

**Summary: **Someone from Snape's past returns to take over the new DADA position during Harry's sixth year. After so many years of not seeing her, what will he do when she's back? As usual, Dumbledore had a hand in it.

**Disclaimer**: don't own Harry Potter and company. Working on it, but it may take a few days. I also don't own the two songs played in this chapter, "Sorry" and "Somewhere Out There," those belong to Our Lady of Peace.

**A/N**: Hey, I hope to get this out today (Friday), but I doubt it, I'm already working on another fic with a, supposed to be, deadline today. We'll see. 

**Pairings:** Snape/OC 

**Feedback: nothing I haven't gotten any obviously.**

The air pressed in on her as she fell through it at speeds that would seem to kill a person. Her electric blue hair was a mess from being thrown around by the wind. The ground was coming fast…100 feet...50 feet...25...15...10...5...4...3..2.1

_Today's a reason for living_

_Today's the blood from a stone_

_Today's the light from a candle_

_Helping us to find our way home _

_Today we carry each other_

_Today the past is a freak_

_Today is the time for forgiveness_

_You were never that good to me_

The wind embraced her large wings, the same color as her hair, as she flew only feet above the ground, letting her fingers skim the lush grass. She flew up into the sky, the midnight blue color of the underside of her wings blending her in with the night sky. 1,000 feet.

_I'm sorry I can't lie_

_I wasted too much time _

_Drowning, I've been blind_

_But I've opened my eyes_

_Sorry I can't lie_

_So I'll just say goodbye._

_Goodbye, goodbye._

An owl hooted in a tree below, there was the rustle of deer running through a field, and a soft scream. The scream continued as she headed in that direction.

Coming to the high cliff, she easily saw what happened, a small girl had fallen and was holding to a branch partway down as her brother tried to reach her. She flew right to the girl and easily caught her just as she started to slip. Flying up to the top of the cliff, she let the girl down beside her brother, before flying off into the night again. 

_Today is tasting the honey_

_Today's the strike of a match_

_Today's the lines in the pavement_

_Helping up to find our way back_

_Today's the crosses we carry_

_Today's the strength that we need_

_Today's the hand of an angel_

_You were not the kind to believe_

She heard the coffee machine start up in the kitchen as she changed out of her tight pants and top looking out the open window at the city below. Carefully, she took a full-length white summery dress out of her walk-in-closet and laid it on her bed. Turning to a mirror, she pulled her hair up into a loose ponytail, the pale blue face reflecting back at her in the mirror, looking only a little over twenty-one.

_I'm sorry I can't lie_

_I wasted too much time _

_Drowning, I've been blind_

_But I've opened my eyes_

_Sorry I can't lie_

_So I'll just say goodbye._

_Goodbye, goodbye._

"Hello, Grandfather, having problems with the coffee machine again?" she asked walking into the large seemingly sunny kitchen, where Albus Dumbledore was trying to use the coffee machine and having no luck at it.

"I'm starting to think I'll never get this thing to work, Alana," he said giving up and taking a seat at the table across from her.

With a quick wave of her hand, the table was set with coffee and tea.

"So, how is everything going?" she asked pouring herself a cup of tea as Albus did the same. "School starts in a couple months, right?"

"Yes, everything's well, but it's hard to find anyone willing to take the Defense Against the Dark Arts position," he told her before taking a sip of tea.

"I'm not surprised, that position at Hogwarts is considered a jinx," she answered with a knowing nod. Then, as reality hit her like a brick, shaking her head, she asked him, "You're not here to ask me to take it, are you, Albus?"

"That obvious?"

_Today we carry each other_

_Today we do what we should_

_Today is the time for forgiving_

_Today I wish I could. _

"I won't do it, there's no way."

_I'm sorry I can't lie_

_I wasted too much time _

_Drowning, I've been blind_

_But I've opened my eyes_

_Sorry I can't lie_

_So I'll just say goodbye._

_Goodbye, goodbye. _

Platform 9 3/4 seemed too empty Harry, Hermione, and Ron as they stepped through the barrier, pushing their trolleys ahead of them. It wasn't the first day of school, but two weeks before hand. Dumbledore had requested that Harry come two weeks in advance to help protect him in case something tried to stop the train, what with the Voldemort back again, all precautions had to be taken. Hermione and Ron were permitted to come early also so that he'd have someone there with him, and neither of them turned down the idea.

There was a half hour before they had to leave, though boarding now was a good idea, and Mrs. Weasley had just come through behind them, fussing about this and/or that, only Ron sort of knew what she was going on about.

"Now, you'll all take special care to be careful this year won't you?" she asked them all as they prepared to board.

"Yes," all three answered.

Once they'd all said their goodbyes, complete with hugs from Mrs. Weasley, they climbed on the train dragging their stuff along with them. It amazed them that practically every compartment had someone or a family in it, all traveling to Hogsmead or beyond.

Finally, in the last compartment, there was a girl; she seemed to be about their age. Her hands were folded in front of her as though she were deep in prayer as she rapidly chanted in an unknown language. A few seconds after they opened the door, she glanced in their direction.

"May I help you?" she asked sweetly, her head cocked slightly to the right. 

"Do you mind if we sit in here, all the other compartments are full," Hermione said, taking over for the suddenly mute Harry and Ron, her blue skin and hair catching Hermione as strange, though she pushed it out of her head as just an illusion.

"Sure," she answered, a small smile, not even that, dancing on her lips. 

As soon as they were in, Hermione realized that what she thought to be an illusion was indeed real. She easily put herself across from the new girl.

"You might not want to sit there," the girl told her looking her right in the eyes with fire red eyes, her voice stiff with warning. Then, her tone a bit lighter, she continued, "What with spells ricocheting back and forth, it's not all that safe getting directly in front of me."

A kind smile as Hermione moved over to the seat beside Ron, still somewhat facing the girl.

Throughout the rest of the trip, Hermione joined in the chatting between Ron and Harry about random things mostly. The girl soon slipped back into deep concentration, her hands back to where they'd been before, chanting rapidly. She had electric blue hair and pale blue skin, with her fire red eyes thrown into the mix with her blood red lips, her coloring seemed like something out of the mind of a fantasy painter. Adding to the effect, she wore a golden circlet that came to a point in the center of her fore head, blue jewels were inlayed all the way around, golden chains handing down from it, intertwining with her hair.

When the snack witch came around, Hermione got the chance to see the girl's hands, which though folded by her face, where well hidden by the extremely long sleeves of her robes. As she reached to take the Pumpkin juice and pasties she'd bought, her sleeve fell back down to her wrists. Hermione was able to see the back of her hands, which were covered in a webbing of golden veins, all seeming to continue on to her arm. She'd noticed Hermione looking and immediately covered her hands again, not letting them show again the entire trip.

Not long after that, she tucked part of her emerald colored cloak against the window and let her head rest on it, watching the vast lands speed by.

_Last time I talked to you _

_You were lonely and out of place_

_You were looking down on me_

_Lost out in space_

_We laid underneath the stars_

_Strung out and feeling brave_

_I watched the red orange glow_

_I watched you float away_

He was fuming. Dumbledore had ordered him to come and meet Harry Potter and his troublesome friends when they arrived, ok, not a direct order, but it was an order in the way Dumbledore gave orders. Why did he have to go anyways? Hagrid was going with Dumbledore; it wasn't like they needed him to come.

_Down here in the atmosphere  
Garbage and city lights  
You've gone to save your tired soul  
You've gone to save our lives  
I turned on the radio  
To find you on satellite  
I'm waiting for the sky to fall  
I'm waiting for a sign_

_And all we are  
Is all so far_

His mind wandered to a letter he'd received a month earlier, as his feet walked the familiar path only meters behind Dumbledore and Hagrid.

_You're falling back to me_

_The star that I can see, yeah,_

_I know you're out there_

_Somewhere out there_

_You're falling out of reach_

_Defying gravity_

_I know you're out there_

_Somewhere out there_

**_SS-_**

****

**_            The tides are changing. I can feel this evil you write of, we all can. My people are fleeing _****_Europe_****_; they're crossing over to the _****_Americas_****_, no, _we're_ going to the _****_Americas_****_. I am going with them. My time here is over, our numbers are dwindling, and with Voldemort on the rise, it is not safe, our powers must leave this shore._**

****

**_-AD     _**

_I hope you remember me_

_When you're homesick and need a change_

_I miss your purple hair_

_I miss the way you taste_

_I know you'll come back someday_

_On a bed of nails I wait_

_I'm praying that you don't burn out or fade away_

_And all we are_

_Is all so far_

The train was just arriving when the reached the platform. A minute or two later, the doors opened, and the three familiar students they were there to meet stepped off. Not far behind them though was another person, a girl, with unnatural blue hair.

_You're falling back to me_

_The star that I can see, yeah,_

_I know you're out there_

_Somewhere out there_

_You're falling out of reach_

_Defying gravity_

_I know you're out there_

_Somewhere out there_

She looked in the direction of the school and smiled softly. Then, she turned her head, unknowingly moving right into the line of sight. Those familiar eyes, flickering with a mixture of so many colors met his cold black eyes.

_You're falling back to me_

_The star that I can see,_

_I know you're out there, oh,_

_Somewhere out there_

_You're falling out of reach_

_Defying gravity_

_I know you're out there_

_Somewhere out there_

She came running at him, her arms wrapped around his neck in a long missed embrace, which he returned. The scent of strawberries and, what muggles called, bubbly (champagne) drifting from hair and skin.

_You're falling back to me_

_The star that I can see, yeah,_

_I know you're out there_

_Somewhere out there_

_You're falling out of reach_

_Defying gravity_

_I know you're out there_

_Somewhere out there_

_You're falling back to me_

_I know_

_I know_

_You're falling out of reach_

_I know_


	2. Chapter 2: Then

_Lost Faith Returned_

**By** Lily Martin

**Rated **R

**Category:** Romance/Adventure/probably something else, but I don't know.

**Spoilers:**  CHANGED TO INCLUDE _"ORDER OF THE __PHOENIX__"_

**Summary: **Someone from Snape's past returns to take over the new DADA position during Harry's sixth year. After so many years of not seeing her, what will he do when she's back? As usual, Dumbledore had a hand in it.

**Disclaimer**: don't own Harry Potter and company. Working on it, but it may take a few days. I also don't own the two songs played in this chapter, "Sorry" and "Somewhere Out There," those belong to Our Lady of Peace.

**A/N**: Sorry this took so long, but without multiple reviews I didn't have much incentive to continue.

**Pairings:** Snape/OC 

**Feedback:** I want to thank my one reviewer, 

**_HOGWARTS_********_SCHOOL_****_ of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY___**

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore_

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

_Dear Alana __Étoile, _

_We are pleased to inform you that your application to transfer to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has been accepted. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_            Term begins on September 1. We await your owl no later than July 31._

_Yours sincerely,_

Minerva McGonagall_,_

_Deputy Headmistress_

"AAAAHHHH!!!" a blue-black haired girl screamed excitedly, running out of her room and down the stairs into the living room of the large house.

"What?" two of the five girls lying around asked, all of them looking away from the television.

"I made it! I made it! My transfer went through!" the sixteen-year-old continued screaming.

The group commenced congratulating her on getting in, and expressions of happiness that they were all going to the same school finally were exchanged.

"You know what this means right?" a girl with carrot red hair finally asked, quieting all the others. They looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to answer her own question so that they wouldn't have to bother, seeing this, she told them, "We need to spend a week of girl time and shopping in London, complete with total makeovers in partying."

~*~

"So, what house do you think you'll be in?" Kaleen, a rather short blond girl, asked from her place on one of the lower bunks of the three bunk beds in their room at the Leaky Cauldron.

"I don't know, I never pay attention to any of you when you talk about school," Alana answered, from the lower bunk across from her.

"I'm in Hufflepuff," Kaleen told her, "We're loyal and hardworking."

"Eh, I doubt I'd be a Hufflepuff, I hate working unless I have to," Alana replied, lazily throwing a green orb of light into the air and catching it.

"Then you probably won't be in Ravenclaw," Jeanine, a girl with mousy brown hair and glasses, threw in. "We're the smartest, always pushing to know more."

"Hey, just cause I don't like to work doesn't mean I'm not smart or willing to learn more," Alana whined, faking a pout.

"You'd make a great Gryffindor, only the bravest and boldest make it into Gryffindor," Melinda, the red head who'd suggested going to London, told her.

"Aren't there four houses?" Alana asked, glancing at the two girls who'd stayed quiet, Taylor and Nadia, who went to Beauxbatons and Durmstrang respectively, both sitting on the upper bunk above Kaleen.

"Don't ask us," Nadia said rolling her eyes, _we_ don't go there.

"Shut up, Nadia, you don't have to be so annoying," Melinda glared. "Just because you're jealous doesn't give you any right to be mean."

"Stop it, both of you," Taylor said softly as the two started bickering.

"So, what's the fourth house?" Alana asked, doing her part by changing the subject.

"Slytherin," Jeanine answered, "there are only purebloods in it though, people of cunning and ambition, who are power-hungry."

"Well, at least they're cunning and ambitious, the whole power-hungry thing's a little off balance, but who isn't," Alana rambled, more to herself than the others. "I'll probably end up in that one, more for the sake that you three already represent the other houses."

"But you're not pureblooded," Kaleen pointed out.

"By wizarding standards I am, there isn't a drop of Muggle blood in my veins, just cause I'm an Elfwitch doesn't mean a thing, except that I don't need a wand to practice magic," Alana ranted, glaring at Kaleen. "But then again, you should know that too, you're one too."

"Of course, it's just, no Elfwitch has ever gotten into Slytherin, not that any of us wanted to," Kaleen replied. 

"So, what kind of wand did you get?" Taylor suddenly asked, once again stopping things before an argument started up full force.

"A nine inch black cherry with a phoenix feather core," Alana answered, pulling it out of its box sitting under her bed.

"Black cherry isn't very flexible," Nadia commented looking at it, "good for someone who works with potions."

"But the phoenix core is good for the spells that are more likely to be used in dueling," Melinda added to Nadia's assessment of Alana's wand type.

"That's what Ollivander said, how'd you know?" Alana asked.

"My wand's black cherry with a unicorn hair core," Nadia said, holding up her wand.

"Maple with phoenix feather core," Melinda said, also holding up her wand.

"Cool," Alana nodded.

~*~

_Wandless Magicks: a Theory of How and Why by Millicent Strovens_

_Magical Beasts and Potions by Euan Bradford_

_Potions of the Elfwitches translated by Margaret LaBleu _

_Hexes and Curses for the Wandless Witch by Jezebel Marks_

_Potions in the Twelfth Century by Professor Roland Zeller_

_Potions in the Eleventh Century by Professor Roland Zeller_

_Potions in the Thirteenth Century by Professor Roland Zeller_

_Advanced Healing Potions and Ancient Medicines by Blasé Shaman _

_From Wand to Wandless and Back Again by Jezebel Marks_

These were the mix of titles on the pile of thick books Alana was at the moment purchasing at _Flourish and Blotts_. She would have grabbed more of the "Potions in the____Century" books by Professor Roland Zeller, but there weren't any more, as it were she'd grabbed the last of the "Potions in the Thirteenth Century" copies.

As she leaned forwards, running her finger along the shelf as she read the names of the books, she could feel her wand in her pocket, unsure exactly why she'd slipped it there in the first place. She hated it already, just looking at it, the idea of confining magic to such a small space seemed so wrong, but she'd have to use it at Hogwarts, there had been a letter in reply to her reply to the acceptance letter, they (Hogwarts) had requested that she please keep her magic to wand rather than wandless, it was just what they had asked of the other girls, as had Taylor and Nadia's schools. Rather than accepting the idea of always using her wand rather than going without it, she decided to pursue the advise of her former tutor, Reginald Ramsey, and further her studies of the art of potions.

A boy about her age with greasy black hair had come over to look at the books on potions, unconsciously she noted that he seemed to be the loner type, dark and mysterious, what the other girls had continued to describe the Slytherins as, except for the loner part.


End file.
